Francis h



(No Model.)

I. H. LEONARD, & s. nfsNow.

GAR COUPLING.

Patented Sept. 25,1883.

4 1 I I l 1 I a UNITED ST TES PATENT nines FRANCIS H. LEONARD ANDSTEPHEN D. SNOIV, OF BOSTON, MA$S.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 285,419, datedSeptember 25, 1883.

Application filed June 11, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANCIS H. LEONARD and STEPHEN D. Snow, both ofBoston, in the county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have inventeda certain new and useful Improve ment in Car-Couplers, of which thefollowing is a description sufficiently full, clear, and en act toenable any person skilled in the art or science to which said inventionappertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is an isometrical perspective view of our improved car-coupler;Fig. 2, a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a bottom plan view.

Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the differentfigures of the drawings. 7

Our invention relates to that class of carcouplers which are automaticor self-coupling; and it consists in a novel construction and arrangement of the parts, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed,by which a more effective device of this character is produced than isnow in ordinary use. i

In the drawings, A represents the draw-bar head, which is provided inthe usual manner with a spring, B, acting expansively to force thedraw-bar forward into the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Fitted to slide vertically in brackets d (1, disposed" on the forwardend of the car, there is a rod, D, provided at its upper end with thehandle in, and at its lower end with thebifurcated horizontally-arrangedarm E, the arm being provided near its outer end with the elongatedslots a.

A shackle-pin, G,*f1tted to work vertically in a hole inv the draw-barhead in the usual manner, is attached to the arm E by means of a bolt,f, which passes horizontally through the slots (1, the bolt being firmlysecured in the head of the pin, but fitted to work loosely or slide insaid slots as the draw bar head moves in or out.

Pivoted to the forward end of the car, at Z- Z, there are twohorizontally-arrangedlevers, II, provided at their inner ends with slots6,111 which the arm E is fitted to work loosely as the outer ends of thelevers are raised or 'depressed.

A lever, Z, is pivoted at u to the upper side of the draw-bar head atthe rear of the pin G, this lever being curved at its inner end to formthe tail-piece n, and provided with a spring, J, adapted to press onsaid tail-piece and push the forward end, 1), of the lever forciblyagainst the pin G.

Pivoted at 1- to the sides of the draw-bar head are twolevers, K,provided with the arms 7 h q, the arms q being connected at their outeror forward ends by the cross-bar L, as shown in Fig. 1, and the arms 9,at their lower ends, by the crossbar t, beneath the draw-bar head, asshown in Fig. 3.

Jointed to each of the arms 9 there is a horizontally-arranged rod, 1;,these rods being connected, respectively, to the inner ends of twohorizontally-arranged levers, M, pivoted to the lower forward end of thecar at 'w, and attached to the outer end of the lever h there is achain, N, extending to the top of the car and attached to the upper endof the rod D, or to any other convenient fastening.

A short chain, b, provided at its outer end with a pin, 6, is attachedto the handle an, or to a staple in the top of the car, the pin'beingadapted to fit a hole, j, in the rod D, for securing the rod in theposition shown in Fig. 2, whenever desired.

In the use of our improvement, the draw-bar head A being forced forwardto its fullest extent by the spring B, the pin G is first elevated bydepressing either of the levers H, or by drawing up the rod D, beingheld in an elevated position by the lever Z, which is pressed forciblyagainst it by the spring J. The cars are then backed in the usual mannerfor 0011p ling, the protruding link in the opposite drawbar head (notshown) being guided into the draw-bar head A by means of the cross-barL, which is raised or depressed for that purpose, as the case may be,from the side of the track by means of the levers M, or from the top ofthe car by means of the chain N, acting upon thepivoted levers K. Thepin G and rod D being elevated, as shown in Fig. 2, when the draw-barheads come into contact and the curved tail-piece n to come into contactwith the end of the car, causing its forward end, 1), to swing outwardly011 the pivot a, thereby releasing the pin G, and permitting it to fallthrough the link in the draw-bar head and couple the cars, in a mannerwhich will be readily understood with out a more explicit description.

It will be obvious that the pin G may be raised and the cars uncoupledby the lovers H or rod D, and that the coupling-link may be raised orlowered and guided into the drawbar head by means of the levers Mwithout the necessity of going between the cars.

In the drawings but one draw-bar head is shown; but it will beunderstood that inacomplete coupler two draw-bar heads are necessary, orthat the cars are provided at either end with draw-bar heads andmechanism substantially such as shown and described; also, that a carprovided with our coupler is adapted to be coupled to a car which isunprovided with the improvement.

Having thus explained our invention, what we claim is 1. Thecombination, with a springpressed draw-bar, of a horizontally-movablelever, Z, pivoted to the draw-bar head, a spring, J, adapted to pressthe forward end of said lever against the coupling-pin for holding thesame in raised position, the tail end of said lever be-' ing adapted forcontact with the end of the car when the draw-bar is pressed inward,whereby said lever is swung outward to release the pin when the earsbump together, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a vertically-movable rod attached to the end ofthe car, a horizontal slotte'd arm attached thereto, the coupling-pinpivoted in the slot of said arm, means for lifting said arm for raisingsaid coupling-pin, a lever pivoted to the draw-bar head, and a springfor pressing one end of said lever in contact with said coupling-pin forholding the same in raised position, the rear end of said lever beingadapted for contact with the end of the car for releasing the pin whenthe cars bump together, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a spring pressed draw-bar, a verticallymovablerod, D, at tached to the end of the car, the horizontal slotted arm E,attached to said rod, and the coupling-pin pivoted and movable in theslot of said arm horizontally, substantially as described. V

4. The combination of a spring pressed draw-bar, a verticallymovablerod, D, attached to the side of the ear, the horizontal slotted arm E,attached to said rod, the coup ling-pin pivoted and movable in the slotof said arm horizontally, and the laterally-extending levers H H,pivoted to the end of the car and connected with said arm for raisingthe same, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the draw-head, the vertically-movable rod D,attached to the end of the car, the slotted arm E, attached to said rod,the coupling-pin pivoted to the slot of said arm horizontally, and afastening device at the top of the car for holding said rod in raisedposition, substantially as described.

- FRANCIS H. LEONARD.

STEPHEN D. SNOV. Vitnesses:

G. A. SHAW, A. W. SAWYER.

